Sawt Falasteen - Europe stocks drop on renewed French vote fears

Traders digested another tough day for tech titans on Wall Street that raised concerns over a possible markets correction following a string of record highs.

"European markets have failed to maintain the positive momentum... with the growing concerns over this weekend's French election rather predictably helping to undermine any short-term strength," noted Shore Markets analyst Joshua Mahony.

"Coming off the back of a US session that had seen weakness across both the Nasdaq and S&P 500, that same downbeat tone appears to be evident in Europe."

The euro held its own against the dollar ahead of the first round of French elections this Sunday.

President Emmanuel Macron called the snap legislative polls after his centrist party was trounced by the far-right National Rally (RN) in European Parliament elections two weeks ago.

The unit remains supported even as some opinion polls show the RN leading, with a left-wing alliance in second and Macron's centrists third.

"The latest French polls show that the far-right National Rally party has widened its lead ahead of the first round of voting on Sunday," added City Index analyst Fiona Cincotta.

"Meanwhile, President Macron's party is in third place. Political uncertainty is deepening, which could limit the euro's upside."

With US data indicating the world's top economy remains in rude health and the jobs market is still tight, investors are unsure about the Federal Reserve's plans for interest rates, with debate centred on when -- or even if -- it will cut this year.

The focus is now on the release Friday of the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index -- the Fed's favoured inflation gauge -- with traders hoping for another slowdown that would give decision-makers room to start loosening policy.

Uncertainty surrounding rates has done little to hold back US equities as a blistering surge in tech giants -- fuelled by an explosion in all things linked to artificial intelligence -- has helped push the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to multiple records this year.

However, profit-taking and worries that the rally has gone too far has started to weigh on the sector, with the latest market darling Nvidia leading the losses by diving more than 15 percent from its high on Thursday.

It had briefly become the world's biggest publicly listed firm two days earlier, with a market capitalisation of more than $3.3 trillion.

Investors are also keeping tabs on Tokyo after Japan's top currency official warned authorities were ready 24 hours a day to intervene to support the yen as it sits around three-decade lows against the dollar.

The yen strengthened, having edged close to 160 to the dollar Monday on fading expectations for a US rate cut any time soon and the Bank of Japan's slow pace of tightening.

- Key figures around 1100 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,264.48 points

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.8 percent at 7,646.32

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 1.1 percent at 18,131.55

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.5 percent at 4,926.40

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.0 percent at 39,173.15 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.3 percent at 18,072.90 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 2,950.00 (close)

New York - Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 39,411.21 (close)

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 159.41 yen from 159.63 yen on Monday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0723 from $1.0740

Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.48 pence from 84.61 pence

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2694 from $1.2689

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.6 percent at $81.16 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.6 percent at $85.51 per barrel

burs-rfj/bcp/rl

O.Farraj--SF-PST